Regent faces ethics complaint

Lawyers for University System of Georgia Regent Don Leebern have moved to settle an ethics complaint against him, but Leebern soon may face a second inquiry by the State Ethics Commission.

The complaints accuse Leebern of failing to file financial disclosure forms that state officials are required to submit each year to the State Ethics Commission and the Georgia Secretary of State, or failing to file accurate forms.

The forms are supposed to include the public official's property holdings, list companies in which the official has invested more than $10,000 and disclose similar information, along with any state contracts worth more than $10,000.

An Augusta man, Tim Brandenburg, filed a complaint late last year accusing Leebern of failing to file the required disclosure forms.

Brandenburg said workers with the Secretary of State and the State Ethics Commission were unable to produce Leebern's forms when Brandenburg requested them.

Brandenberg, a fired Medical College of Georgia employee, said he was trying to get the documents as he appeals his firing.

A lawyer representing Leebern promised the ethics commission that the regent will file the required forms for 2005 and 2006 "once Mr. Leebern has gathered the necessary information," according to documents released by the Ethics Commission on Wednesday.

The lawyer, Mark Cohen of Atlanta's Troutman Sanders, also wrote that Leebern would file "any necessary amendments" for earlier financial disclosure reports.

Next, the ethics commission and Leebern will negotiate a settlement or hold a hearing before a state administrative law judge, said State Ethics Commission executive director Rick Thompson.

In the meantime, a second man has filed an ethics complaint, arguing that Leebern is not properly disclosing his business dealings with the state.

George Anderson, director of the Rome-based Ethics in Government Group, said he mailed his notarized complaint to the ethics commission Wednesday. Leebern "has failed to be honest" in his financial declarations, according to Anderson's complaint.

Anderson in January asked Gov. Sonny Perdue to investigate Leebern's business dealings with the state.

Specifically, Anderson complained to Perdue that Leebern has not disclosed business dealings between Leebern-owned businesses such as Melwood Springs Water and the Medical College of Georgia and other state agencies.

Anderson heard back from the governor's office Jan. 29.

"We appreciate your concern on the matter, and we are looking into the issue," wrote Josh Belinfante, deputy executive counsel for the governor's office.

Anderson also accused Leebern of ethical failures in his role as chairman of MCG Health Inc., a not-for-profit company set up by the Board of Regents about seven years ago to run hospitals, clinics and other services affiliated with the Medical College of Georgia.

Leebern became chairman of MCG Health after the corporation's first chairman, regent and former state Sen. Tom Allgood, was killed in a 2000 plane crash.

As chairman, Leebern signed off on a plan by the MCG Health board to set up an offshore company, MCG Health Insurance, according to Anderson.

Anderson says he will ask state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine to investigate whether setting up the health insurance company outside the U.S. could lead to liability issues for the state.

Anderson and his Ethics in Government Group have been a thorn in the side of many state officials for more than a decade.

Anderson has filed more than 300 ethics complaints against officials, including former Georgia State School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, longtime Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin and controversial DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones. Some of the complaints have resulted in large fines for the public officials, he said.

Leebern said Wednesday he would not comment on any of the specifics in the complaints against him.

"It would be inappropriate for me to make a statement," he said.

But Leebern, an Athens resident and a regent for more than 16 years, said he has not committed any serious ethics breaches.

"I'm convinced everything is fine," he said Wednesday.

Reputed to be one of the state's richest men, Leebern said he doesn't serve on state boards to make money for his Georgia Crown Distributors or other companies.